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Kids learn murder at summer camp in Gaza

As summer arrives over the northern hemisphere, children around the globe's northern half will make their way to summer camps where they will learn new arts and crafts, make new friends, and enjoy the great outdoors. Except for children in Gaza. They will learn murder at their camp.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL, (Catholic Online) - Children from Gaza can pick from various summer camps, all intended to teach guerrilla warfare to kids, even those in their preteen years. Organizations such as hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees all have camps to offer. It is expected that 100,000 children will attend these camps.

The kids will participate in religious activities and sporting events. Alongside these, they will learn how to shoot rifles, how to operate as snipers, launch rockets, and even how to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

The various organizations take the camps seriously, looking to them for the next generation of recruits for their anti-Israeli activities.

Students in Gaza already learn how to shoot weapons and handle live ammunition as part of their school curriculum.

According to Hamas, the goal of the camps is to instill children with values, and a spirit of jihad.

Gaza remains blockaded by Israel, which undoubtedly fuels the spirit of persecution and jihad in the region. The summer camps are merely an extension of that spirit.

To combat this upwelling of militancy, the UNHCR is sponsoring sports-related summer camps for children, no rifles involved. That agency expects to outdo the jihadist camps, with 150,000 children anticipated for this year.

Still, what a tragedy that while most kids are roasting marshmallows or kicking soccer balls, a hundred thousand children are learning how to murder other people.